Chapter 6: To Be a Flyer Part 1 (written from October 30th to October 31st, 2021)

"You're not a butterfly but you'll do," Winston muttered.

The owl perched on a high branch that protruded from the rest of the Douglas fir. The tree was taller than most, and Sanja had managed to climb it by using a process she referred to as "branching." She took small flights between the branches, winding up the tree until she almost made it to the top. She gazed at the open air which was slashed relentlessly by the day's sun. It was the closest to the level of sky she had known in the pine grove. She overlooked the eastern boundary of Peterland. The land dramatically dipped and it was implied by the heights of the trees ahead of her. This would give her more falling space, more space to flap her wings. The pup told her that, in order to produce lift, she needed to create airflow.

"Are you sure about this, Winston?" asked Sanja. She found her question to be ironic. In the grove, she couldn't wait to fly. She was restless, constantly begging her parents to let her move on from branching but that was what got her into trouble, why she was blown away from home. The winds were much tougher than she thought. Even though she was practically fledged now, she felt more nervous about flying than ever. Winston sought to break this uneasiness. If he could resist the temptation of Lilly, she could resist her fear.

"Don't tell me you're afraid of heights," Winston replied with a chuckle.

"I'm not... I just don't wanna get blown away."

"I doubt that would happen. You're not as high as you were in the mountains. Randall says the winds up there can be fierce. Perhaps the higher you go the stronger the wind, so you won't get blown away. Say that it does happen. You won't go so far that I can't catch you."

"You'll catch me?"

Winston nodded.

"I promise. But you have to make the jump. You can't elude the sky. It's your element."

"It's true that my da would say that an 'owl who can't fly is no owl at all.'"

"And you know he's right."

"Yes," she replied with embarrassment.

"I imagine that flying is largely instinctual. If you believe your body is ready, don't think. Just jump with your wings out, and the air itself will teach you how to shape it to your liking."

Sanja couldn't believe she was taking instruction from an earthbound animal, a wolf, no less, yet what he was saying made perfect sense. There was no such thing as a flying school. Each owl seemed to learn on their own and without much display of ardor.

"I believe," she whispered. Then, without a hint of cautiousness, she jumped off the branch and welcomed the gentle atmosphere. She glided into a river of air and began to feel a mass build on her underside. "I... I'm doing it! You were right!" Her mind instinctively formed a complex map. The currents around her revealed the positions of distant currents, allowing her to sense aerial pathways. She chose the easiest one to start off with. She entered a thermal which brought her high with a few wing flaps. The owl was not fully aware of her flight capabilities. Being able to make effective turns was going to take practice. She looked down and realized that the ground had changed. She was no longer in the area where the tall tree was. She had flown a fair distance already! And Winston was keeping up! "I'm doing it!" she yelled again. The pup could see tears of joy trickling down her disk face.

"You're doing so good, Sanja!" Winston yelled back. "But don't go that way! You're approaching the edge! And you're going too high! Alphas stationed on Mt. Victory will see you!"

"Oh! Okay! Umm! Think, Sanja! Think!" But she wasn't thinking fast enough. The thermal continued to elevate her. She flew forward, but there was no end to the current. She managed to make slight turns by dipping the left and right sides of her body, but she was being pulled higher and higher. The pocket of air she flew in was ascending at an increasing speed. Sanja panicked. "Umm! Winston! WINSTON!" The canopy of the forest was so far away. Still, the pup should hear her screams. With her incredible hearing, she couldn't hear him running between the trees anymore. What happened? Regardless, she could not stop. She shot up until she was higher than she had ever seen a bird go. That's when the true power of the sky revealed itself. She shot through a thin layer of grey and came out to face the mother of all clouds—cumulonimbus! After turning her head in different directions, she came to the conclusion that she happened to be sucked into the head of a cold front! A row of dark cumulonimbus—thunderstorms—was about to ransack the Valley.

Later...

Many hours later, the owl woke up. She found herself in a small cavity above where a branch and trunk met in a tight V-shaped arrangement. Her feathers were soaked, for water had collected from outside where a drizzle was ongoing. She had apparently slept through the worst of the storm. She wasn't sure what happened. One minute she was meandering through a colossal maze as lightning lit up countless cloud tunnels, the next she was in this wet chamber inside a decaying pine. Her plumage was an absolute mess, but miraculously, she was unharmed save for her back which was sore at best.

All of a sudden, there was rustling and sounds of fervent sniffing. Sanja proceeded to wilf which was the owl word for laying one's feathers flat, so an owl could appear smaller than they actually were. The chamber was so unaccommodating that only half her body could fit in it. Her tail feathers awkwardly stuck out of the hole. She hoped wilfing would help conceal them, but she could feel the jaws of a canine slowly grasp her. The feel of teeth was not indicative of a pup. Could it be Randall?

The owl was then carelessly yanked from the hollow. An ash-colored wolf was on its hind legs, leaning against the black trunk as the bird was captured. The wolf was female and seemed older than Randall. She removed herself from the tree and smoothly slid into a professional run.

"Hey! Who are you? I'm not food!"

"Everything is food," the she-wolf replied unfeelingly. Her tone was frigid and apathetic, but the wolf was a bit surprised at the somewhat casual manner of the bird. She began to think the bird was really young. It would explain how she caught it so easily. "So you can talk?"

"Of course, I can talk! I'm an owl!"

"You're a what?!" The wolf came to a complete stop and released Sanja. It was a bird unlike any she had ever seen. The disk face, though draggled, astounded her. It could only be an owl!

"Oh, wait!" said Sanja. "You must be an Alpha! Aw, dang, I wasn't supposed to tell you I was an owl!"

"So what Ross says is true! The East has an owl for a spy!"

"What? No, I'm not a spy!" The she-wolf ignored Sanja and looked at the summit of Mt. Victory. The base of the mountain was just a few leagues east. She was already on her way there.

"Why, this my chance! That handsome pack leader will finally notice me! I was planning a feast, but I shall take this piece of filth and present it as a token of my love! Yes, that is what I shall do." She recaptured the owl and ran as fast as she could to the pack leader's den, splashing puddles that fractured the trail.

"Hey! Let me go! Let me go!" Sanja urged to no avail. "How come Winston didn't catch me?"